Re: What constitutes "around the world"?

spinoza1111_at_yahoo.com
Date: 03/04/05 

Date: 4 Mar 2005 15:49:36 -0800

Lynn Kurtz wrote:
> On 4 Mar 2005 08:40:08 -0800, "jmorriss@idirect.com"
> <jmorriss@idirect.com> wrote:
>
> >The recent solo flight around the world set me to wondering what was
> >necessary to set such record. The balloonning site:
> >
> >http://www.fai.org/ballooning/global/rtwrules.asp
> >
> >has some rules. It would appear that a flight at a constant 60
degress
> >North or South latitude would qualify, even though its length would
be
> >only HALF the circumference of the earth.
> >
> >Any ideas for a more rigorous definition? How about, "Must cross
ALL
> >possible Great Circles"?
> >
>
> Well according to the newspaper this morning, the flight must start
> and end at the same point and must stay between the tropic or
> Capricorn and tropic of Cancer.

That's "Eurocentric" as is the requirement that a circumnavigation
"intersect all lines of longitude" (which is a "necessary" but not
sufficient condition unless the circumnavigation is Equatorial).

The only non-Eurocentric definition would require the Magellan wannabe
to "circumnavigate" in the sense of traveling a distance equal to the
earth's diameter, dismissing as *de minimis* the fact that the Earth is
not "round".

Which means that a short circular walk around either Pole would not
count, but a trip, from the North pole to the South pole and return by
way of the other side of the earth would so count.

Interestingly, a class of slightly degenerate circumnavigations exist:
"extensional", vis a vis intensional circumnavigations that fully
describe a Great Circle.

That is: if we allowed an adventurer credit, for traveling, say, from
Hong Kong to New York (a near-demi-circumnavigation) and return by way
of air, because the distance traveled was equivalent, then ANY Bogus
Journey equal in distance would be Magellanic and a circumnavigation.

Which through absurdity would seem to disallow EVEN a more adventurous
trip, by bumboat, from Hong Kong to New York and return, during which
the solo adventurer encountered monsters of the deep and refused, like
Odysseus, the attentions of Sirens, but to ALLOW a circumnavigation of
the world in banal Business class, as "Magellanic".

The adventurer's choice, to return to Hong Kong by way of the same
route, would make his adventure non-Magellanic, strangely in view of
his willingness to encounter monstres de la mer not once but twice.

What this argument shows is that the "idea" of a Magellanic adventure
or Vision Quest is NOT DEFINABLE MATHEMATICALLY.
>
> --Lynn
> >Or, perhaps the equivalent, "Cannot lie totally inside ANY arbitrary
> >hemisphere"?

Relevant Pages

  • Re: What constitutes "around the world"?
    ... > Which means that a short circular walk around either Pole would not ... if we allowed an adventurer credit, for traveling, say, from ... > Journey equal in distance would be Magellanic and a circumnavigation. ... to return to Hong Kong by way of the same ...
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